Halong bay

We decided to drive to Halong bay and get a tour ourselves, rather than getting one from Hanoi like most people. Cara was finally confident enough on the bike to take over for a bit so she drove for a couple of hours and I could enjoy some of the scenery. Apart from knocking a poor girl off her bicycle she did well for her first time. We found a cheap guest house where I bumped into a very nice Malaysian man. He was a motorbiker and so was interested about our trip after he saw the mighty Harley. We had some drinks with him later and he must have been one of the nicest people ever. He was 55 and had retired so was now trying to travel more of Asia and was so keen to learn about our travels. We also managed to book a 2 day Halong Bay trip for

45 dollars each. We were slightly apprehensive on what it would be like after the travel agency told us we weren't allowed to complain if it was rubbish.
It turned out to be perfect for what we wanted. The boat was a bit run down but did its purpose and the weather was perfect. We cruised around the bay before kayaking for half an hour and the views were stunning the whole time. We got back to the boat for some dinner and had some drinks in our room. The food was fine but helped that we brought about 3kg of fruit to top ourselves up (and some crisps of course). We had opted not to go on the party boat which was 10 dollars more and had free drinks. This worked out well as the boats parked together and they all came onto ours bringing us free vodka. We partied late into the night and hit our bed around 3.
We cruised back to the harbour the next day and spent the remainder of the day relaxing and catching up with friends and relatives.

We decided to stay in Halong for one more day as we were in no rush to get to Hanoi now Cara had postponed her flight. After being advised by our guest house owner we drove to monkey mountain to climb it. It took us 30 minutes to find the entrance, but we eventually did and began the climb. It was relatively challenging, especially in the intense heat but was totally worth it. The views from the top beat anything we had seen on the boat ride. You could see far into the distance of Halong bay in all directions. The only others up there were 6 local boys, who after all getting a picture with Cara, left us alone. We stayed there for 3 hours talking and listening to music. It was just unreal.

After climbing down we drove on a beautiful seaside road and watched the sunset. Getting back to the hostel we bought 12 beers, popcorn and crisps ready to watch the final race of the F1 season. Hamilton won of course which made the perfect day even better. To add to that Everton won and Liverpool lost, making me declare that as one of the best days of my life so far.